The controversial figure of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin appears on the eighth gold ducat of the Czech Mint from the series entitled Cult of Personality.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who entered history under the pseudonym Lenin, had already decided during his studies to become a professional left-wing revolutionary. Not only because the writings of Karl Marx appealed to him, but also because he was persecuted in his homeland, which was the Tsardom of Russia. His career as a future lawyer and his chances for a worthwhile social life ended after his older brother was executed for planning the assassination of the Tsar. Lenin was arrested and sent into exile, where he plotted revenge for 17 long years... The Russian Empire faced a serious crisis at the beginning of the 20th century - it had lost the war with Japan, was plagued by famine, the economic situation was bleak and eventually World War I broke out. Lenin was already a prominent European theorist of Marxism and the creator of its new variant: Marxism-Leninism. As a Bolshevik Party strategist, he was preparing to overthrow Nicholas II, but a shock came in 1917 . A revolution took place in Russia and the Tsar was removed from power. Since the coup had taken place without Lenin's input, the disgraced revolutionary declared the Russian revolution bourgeois and decided to engineer another - a proper socialist one. He found help in Germany, which was fighting on two fronts in the First World War and which hoped that Lenin would destabilise Russia and force it to stop fighting. The first attempt at a Bolshevik coup failed and Lenin had to flee abroad again, but he soon returned and carried out the successful "Great October Socialist Revolution". As planned, he concluded peace with Germany and set about fighting his internal opponents. The Bolsheviks emerged victorious from the Russian Civil War in which they clashed with monarchists, liberals and moderate socialists. The cost was terrible - millions died and the economy was in ruins. Out of this chaos then emerged the totalitarian Soviet Union, in which Lenin implemented his teachings, pushed for collectivisation, fought the Church and modernised Russia. After his death, Stalin took unlimited power and maintained the cult of Lenin. He had the revolutionary's body embalmed and displayed in a Moscow mausoleum where it rests to this day...

"The obverse side is covered by a net spread between five rays with a hint of a five-pointed star, symbolizing the spread of the Bolshevik Revolution to all corners of Russia and other countries. The depiction of Lenin in the centre was inspired by contemporary stylized portraits designed to spread his ideology and cult. The net still bears the name VLADIMIR ILJIČ LENIN and the life dates: 22. 4. 1870 SIMBIRSK – 21. 1. 1924 GORKI, explains academic sculptor Jiří Dostál. "The wide net of Bolshevik ideology covers the reverse side, where it continues even after the death of Lenin, whose embalmed body became a symbol of the cult. The bottom line of the quotation LEARN, LEARN, LEARN is composed upside down, recalling Lenin's disgust with the intelligentsia," the ducat's author adds.

An integral part of the issue is a special supplement that offers an objective view of Lenin through the eyes of historian Pavel Kosatik.